'Tridemic' could overwhelm US healthcare capacity: San Jose Mercury News

WASHINGTON - Simultaneous waves of Delta, Omicron and influenza, a "tridemic," could "easily exceed" the capacity of the US healthcare system and "cause untold misery and deaths," The Mercury News, a daily in the city of San Jose, California, said Tuesday.

"We had been confronted with a surge of Delta cases and then Omicron, a much more transmissible variant, exploded last week in our country as it had around the world. As if this is not enough, we are entering the influenza season," said an op-ed published by the US media outlet. "We have a lot to be concerned about."

The United States, for long the country with the most cases and deaths in the global COVID-19 chart, has already reported more than 50 million infections and 800,000 deaths.

The United States has about 4 percent of the global population, but the country has 15 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths globally, said the daily.

"It's tragic that we have not performed better," it said. "It's a perfect time to do what is necessary to tamp down this impending 'tridemic' and make 2022 the year that we release ourselves from the jaw of COVID-19."